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C Butt implement The PODFather to improve proof of delivery and customer services

27 January 2010

C Butt Ltd is one of the largest privately owned logistics businesses in the UK. Established in 1926 and with a head office located in Northampton, the group now operates from 19 locations with over 500,000 square feet of warehousing and a fleet of over 400 vehicles and 600 trailers.

C Butt forms lasting partnerships with their clients, ranging from small businesses to blue-chip manufacturers and retailers, and constantly look to introduce innovative and sustainable solutions to ensure they provide a first class customer service.

Following successful trials of The PODFather system with key C Butt accounts, C Butt have realised the benefits of moving to an integrated POD system.

Kevan Howarth, Contract Manager at C Butt, explains, “The PODFather has been integrated into the existing C Butt traffic planning system. The integration only took a matter of days, and now allows us to automatically upload details of our customer deliveries into PODFather either in real-time or on daily basis depending on the account requirements. Jobs are then sent to a delivery driver PDA, where all items delivered are photographed, and a customer name and signature is returned to C Butt within seconds of the delivery being made. The exact date and time of the delivery is also recorded automatically.

“Having a photo of the delivered goods on the POD has dramatically improved the audit trail of deliveries on the accounts we have implemented PODFather with. Typically these are accounts where we are delivering either high-value goods, or large multi-part furniture orders which are stored by the customer before being professionally installed.

“During this time the parts may have been moved from their original storage location. Examples of items going missing are usually the smaller parts like a bag of screws, but this would require a replacement delivery to be made.

“Whilst there were paper records to support the delivery being made accurately, the storage location documentation was limited. Due to the time delay between the delivery being made and the customer checking the parts, as well as the high value of the overall customer order meant that replacement items were almost always shipped free of charge to the end customer.”

With the paper-based delivery notes being replaced by PODFather, now all items are photographed in their delivery location and have them electronically signed for by the customer, and stored in an easily accessible archive in The PODFather. If a customer has a query about their delivery, the POD and images can be retrieved in a matter of seconds and the advised exactly where the items were stored. With photographic evidence supporting the original delivery, the parts are either retrieved by the customer, or the replacement parts can now be charged rather than given free of charge.

Kevan continues, “Without question, PODFather has improved the delivery audit trail and our customer service, as well as reducing haulage costs for the replacement deliveries. It has also strengthened the relationship between C Butt and our 3PL customers, as they in turn are able to provide better customer services through faster resolution of delivery discrepancies.”

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